GroundTruthTrekking Articleshttp://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Recent GroundTruthTrekking Articlesen-usFri, 09 Dec 2016 16:08:21 -0000Aleutians Expedition -- 2015http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Journeys/aleutians-expedition-2015.html<h2 align="center"><strong>Volcanoes. Blowing Mist. Swirling Tides. The Cradle of Storms</strong></h2><h2 align="center"><strong>One 6-year-old. One 4-year-old.</strong></h2><h2 align="center"><strong style="line-height: 19.0439987182617px;">August-September 2015: From Dutch Harbor to ??</strong></h2><p style="text-align: center;"><strong style="line-height: 19.0439987182617px;"><span>Follow the journey on our&nbsp;</span><a href="https://share.delorme.com/ErinMcKittrick">live tracker map</a><span>&nbsp;or on&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ground-Truth-Trekking/316861406084">FB</a><br /></strong></p><pre>
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</pre><p align="center" style="text-align: left;"><strong style="font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 1.125em;">Flexibility</strong><span style="font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 1.125em;">: This time, I haven't even put a line on the map. Because, despite the fact that I'm writing this 2 weeks before we leave, I don't really know where we'll end up. The ferry will drop us off in Dutch Harbor on August 1, after a 4 day journey from Seldovia, with 300 pounds of food. We'd love to fly to Nikolski, then work our way back to Dutch Harbor. But so far, we've found no way to hire or beg anyone to get food out to any part of either of those islands. And we can't actually carry 300lbs of food at once! So, perhaps we'll do several long wandering loops through the fjords of Unalaska. Or run into someone on the docks who can carry us somewhere else and change the plan entirely. Either way, we'll be back on the dock before the last ferry of the year leaves at the end of September.</span></p><p>Hig and I have been doing expeditions like this for fifteen years. The kids have been doing them since birth. And the more we do, the more we embrace flexibility. Partly because we have a lot of comfort with expedition planning. And partly because we have nothing to prove. It doesn't really matter how far we go, or even exactly where. It matters what we experience, what we see, and what we learn.</p><p>Stay tuned for that.</p><p><strong>Wild Speculations:</strong></p><p>We'll weather the storms. That, I'm sure of. Seeing as somehow, always, we are drawn to the windiest places.</p><p>Beyond that? Will the crashing waves and swirling currents keep us on the high ridges of those treeless islands? Will the molasses-slow pace of a four year old convince us to paddle as much as possible?&nbsp;</p><p><span>We're going because we're curious. Curiosity has dragged us many thousands of miles across Alaska. And left us with a map full of yawning blank spots&mdash;great green-brown swaths of temptation. A lifetime's worth of places I haven't explored.</span></p><p><span>The Aleutians have more history than almost any other place in the st...(<a href="/Journeys/aleutians-expedition-2015.html">read more!</a>)http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Journeys/aleutians-expedition-2015.htmlRing of Firehttp://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Journeys/ring-of-fire-expedition/ring-of-fire.html<p>
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Alpacka Gnu and trailer
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<a href="/photo/alpacka-gnu-and-trailer/"><img src="/static/uploads/photos/alpacka-gnu-and-trailer.350x350.jpg" alt="Kim and I will be using a two person Gnu packraft and a trailer to carry our bikes on our Ring of Fire expedition." /></a> <a class="GetPhoto" href="/photo/alpacka-gnu-and-trailer/">GET PHOTO</a>
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Kim and I will be using a two person Gnu packraft and a trailer to carry our bikes on our Ring of Fire expedition.
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</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Between South East Alaska and South Central Alaska lies the
sparsely populated Lost Coast &ndash; a long and exposed stretch of shoreline
peppered with bays, fjords, North America&rsquo;s largest glaciers, mountains that touch the sky and vast
wilderness. We aim to bike it. </p>
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<p>Our trip will begin in Juneau around summer solstice. With a
new <a class="external" href="https://www.alpackaraft.com/index.cfm/store.catalog/Packrafts/AlpackaGnu">double Alpacka packraft</a> configuration and fancy carbon fiber<a href="http://salsacycles.com/bikes/beargrease" target="_blank">&nbsp;Salsa Beargrease fat-bikes</a> we will work our way
to the outer coast and follow the path of most interesting resistance to
Cordova. From Cordova we plan to make our way to Whittier and from there,
onward to the outer coast of the Kenai Peninsula to our home in Homer. </p>
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<p>Kim and I are well versed with the terrain of <a href="http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Journeys/CirclingtheSound.html" target="_blank">Prince William
Sound</a> and the <a href="http://mjolnirofbjorn.blogspot.com/2013/09/summers-last-kiss.html" target="_blank">Kenai Peninsula</a> but neither of us has been along the Lost Coast.
The excitement of experiencing and seeing new terrain is matched perfectly with
the desire to return to some of our favorite Alaskan landscapes. </p>
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Fat-Bikes and Musk-Ox
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<a href="/photo/fat-bikes-and-musk-ox/"><img src="/static/uploads/photos/fat-bikes-and-musk-ox.350x350.jpg" alt="Corrosion resistant, field repairable and feather-weight fat-bikes from Salsa Cycles is our bike of choice for this nearly one thousand mile wilderness expedition." /></a> <a class="GetPhoto" href="/photo/fat-bikes-and-musk-ox/">GET PHOTO</a>
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Corrosion resistant, field repairable and feather-weight fat-bikes from Salsa Cycles is our bike of choice for this nearly one thousand mile wilderness expedition.
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<p>Keeping our <a class="external" href="http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/blog/?p=3344">gear<...(<a href="/Journeys/ring-of-fire-expedition/ring-of-fire.html">read more!</a>)http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Journeys/ring-of-fire-expedition/ring-of-fire.htmlAlaska Railroadhttp://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Issues/Infrastructure/alaska-railroad.html<p>The Alaska railroad is a railway system which runs up through central Alaska, linking the major population and industrial centers of southcentral and interior Alaska.&nbsp;The mainline track stretches 470 miles, from Seward and Whittier to Fairbanks (technically a little further, to Fort Wainwright and Eielson Air Force Base). At one of its southern ends, the railroad terminates at the <a class="external" href="http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Issues/AlaskaCoal/SewardCoalPort.html">Seward Coal Loading Facility</a>, where coal is loaded onto ships for export.&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 14.399998664856px; line-height: 1.125em;">The Alaska Railroad is crucial to some of the state's industries &ndash; notably&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Issues/AlaskaCoal.html" style="font-size: 14.399998664856px; line-height: 1.125em;">coal</a><span style="font-size: 14.399998664856px; line-height: 1.125em;">&nbsp;mining and the&nbsp;</span><a class="external" href="http://www.newsminer.com/news/local_news/flint-hills-quiet-transition-closed-refinery-prepares-for-next-phase/article_6c252186-002c-11e4-83f1-0017a43b2370.html" style="font-size: 14.399998664856px; line-height: 1.125em;" target="_blank">now-closed</a><span style="font-size: 14.399998664856px; line-height: 1.125em;">&nbsp;refinery in North Pole.</span></p><p><span>&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 14.399998664856px; line-height: 1.125em;">&ldquo;The Alaska Railroad&rdquo; also refers to the </span><a class="external" href="http://alaskarailroad.com/" style="font-size: 14.399998664856px; line-height: 1.125em;" target="_blank">Alaska Railroad Corporation,</a><span style="font-size: 14.399998664856px; line-height: 1.125em;"> the state-owned corporation which operates the rail system, and which owns the track, land, trains, and other infrastructure and equipment. The railroad is heavily subsidized by both the state and federal governments, which have historically financed most of its infrastructure, currently valued at close to $1 billion.</span></p>
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Alaska Railroad Freight Train
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source:&nbsp;Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial
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<h2>Service &amp; Finances</h2><br />
<p>The Alaska Railroad funds its operations and maintenance through customer fees and other business activities, whereas its infrastructure is funded by grants. The railroad offers passenger and freight service, with freight fees being its largest single source of income. In <a class="external" href="http://www.ala...(<a href="/Issues/Infrastructure/alaska-railroad.html">read more!</a>)http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Issues/Infrastructure/alaska-railroad.html